After ILR is approved, will BRP not be issued? eVisa binds passport and boarding verification

The first thing many people did on the day they received the permanent residency approval email was go home and wait for the card to arrive. After one week, two weeks, nothing came, and they started to doubt whether it had been lost in the mail.

The card will not come. The Ministry of the Interior has stopped producing physical BRP (biometric residence permit) after October 31, 2024. Now, the approved permanent residency (ILR / Indefinite Leave to Remain) is only one thing: a digital identity eVisa. You are not waiting for a courier, but you need to open an account yourself.

You haven't completed this step, you have a status, but you can't prove it - you can't rent a house, your employment is stuck during the background check, and the most troublesome part is that after going abroad, you are stopped at the check-in counter and .

What will be received after the permanent residency is approved? No card, just an email.

The process is as follows: when you submitted the ILR application, you have already provided biometric information - either by visiting a UKVCAS service point to take fingerprints and photos, or by using the "UK Immigration: ID Check" mobile app to scan your passport chip and face. Therefore, after approval, does not need to go through the biometric collection again, . Many people get stuck here waiting in vain because they confuse "approval" with "providing biometric information again."

The decision will be sent by email. The email contains two key items: decision letter (decision letter) , and instructions to create or log in to a UKVI account to view eVisa. The decision letter itself is not a valid proof of identity document, but the PDF must be kept safe, as it will be the reference when system mismatches occur.

Create a UKVI account, view eVisa free of charge, no changes will be made, and your identity will not be re-reviewed. Any statement that requires you to pay for "activating permanent residency" is not an official process.

Permanent Residency eVisa Binding List: Do These 5 Things in Order After Approval

这张表建议截图存手机相册，一条一条对：

Will I be stopped at the boarding gate if I haven't re-bound eVisa?

This is the most realistic risk point now, and the rules have just become stricter.

Starting from 2026-02-25, carriers (airlines, ferry companies, etc.) for flights to the UK must perform automated verification of passengers before boarding: take the passport you hand over and compare it with the "permission to travel" in the Home Office records. Exempt are British and Irish citizens and a small number of other exempt groups.

Note this logic: The system recognizes the passport number, not you as a person . You have obtained a new passport but failed to update your UKVI account, so the system checks with the new passport number and finds "no record". The old BRP that you are holding can't help either — the physical BRP will no longer have travel value to the UK after June 2025.

The update entry is the "update your UK Visas and Immigration account details" service on GOV.UK, free of charge, taking about a few minutes to fill out. But don't wait until the last minute: in most cases, it is processed within a few working days, but in some cases, the Home Office may ask you to send your passport or ID documents by post for verification, which would take weeks.

Operation principle: Update the account first, then book the ticket . Not the other way around. Even if the old passport has been cut, take it along, in case the airline staff has questions and needs to verify that it's the same person.

How to open share code? The code for work and rental cannot be used together.

After obtaining permanent residency, employers conduct Right to Work checks and landlords conduct Right to Rent checks, neither of which require the physical card anymore, but instead ask you to provide a 9-digit share code. You can generate it on the spot in your UKVI account's View and Prove service, which is free.

Two common pitfalls: First, codes are categorized by purpose , when generating, make sure to select whether it is for the employer or the landlord, codes intended for work purposes will be rejected by the system if used for rental verification; Second, has an expiration date of 90 days , once expired, it needs to be regenerated, no need to worry. It may also be used in scenarios such as bank account opening and DVLA license renewal, and the same applies for selection according to purpose.

Another common misunderstanding: the permanent residency status eVisa does not show an expiry date. Some landlords or HR personnel who are not familiar with digital identity may not understand "settled status" and keep asking for the card. At this point, taking a screenshot of the status on the View and Prove page and reminding them to check via gov.uk's official verification channel themselves usually resolves the issue. If it really can't be resolved and involves being refused a rental or having an offer withdrawn, you can pay £5 on justiscript.com to get a written response from a UK-qualified lawyer within 24 hours, which is much more efficient than explaining repeatedly.

After completing the permanent residency binding, there are two more time red lines to note in your calendar.

Digitalization has only solved "how to prove," but has not changed the rules of permanent residency itself. After binding eVisa, there are two dates that are recommended to be set as calendar reminders:

If you have been continuously away from the UK for 2 years, your permanent residency will expire. This is a place where many people tend to be careless after obtaining their status - returning to China to take care of family, being dispatched abroad, starting a business, and two years pass by in a blink. If you are really over the time limit, you need to go through the Returning Resident visa process, which requires proving a strong connection to the UK, not an automatic restoration.

打算入籍的，通常还要在拿到 ILR 之后再等 12 个月（英国公民配偶一般不受这条限制），并注意入籍申请前 12 个月内离境一般不超过 90 天。这两个数字和永居阶段的 180 天规则不是一回事，不要混着算。想把日子精算到天，可以用「永居计算器」APP 排一遍。

eVisa 打不开怎么办？三种常见故障的处理顺序

登录后状态是空白或显示旧签证：多为记录更新延迟，隔一两天再看；超过一周仍不对，带着决定信联系 UKVI 的 eVisa 支持渠道。手机号或邮箱失效登不进去：走账户找回流程，不要新建第二个账户，重复账户会让记录更难关联。姓名拼写、出生日期有误：一定要改，登机核验是逐字段比对的，一个字母之差就可能通不过。

本文仅供参考，具体问题请咨询持牌律师；费用与流程以 GOV.UK 最新公告为准。

[Data Source] gov.uk/evisa; gov.uk/update-uk-visas-immigration-account-details; gov.uk/guidance/indefinite-leave-to-remain-in-the-uk-your-rights-and-status

Let me share my judgment: The most vulnerable moment of permanent residency is not during the approval process, but rather the weeks following the approval, a period of complacency. Status is lifelong, yet the data chain that proves your status relies on your maintenance—changing passports, changing phone numbers, any link that fails to keep up could result in an invalid ticket and an unclear entry experience.

The table "5 Things to Do After Approval" is most suitable for two groups of people to check against: those who have just received the approval email and are still waiting for the card to arrive; and those who have recently obtained a new passport but can't remember whether they have updated their UKVI account. Take a screenshot and you can complete everything in five minutes.

Also want to ask you: After obtaining permanent residency, in what situation did you use the share code for the first time - starting a job, renting a house, or opening a bank account? Did the other party understand it? Let's discuss in the comments section. Real feedback like this is more valuable than official guidelines.

This account breaks down one permanent residency rule every day: how to count days out of the country, how to prepare the list of documents, the cost of each item, and updates whenever the policy changes. Take your time, no need to rush.

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